Key for any price increase is when high end projects start propping up. Chennai outskirts lacks this. If you see Bangalore and NCR they have high end buildings coming up even on outskirts.

Most of the flats being built on outskirts are pretty low key. OMR is the only place where there is at least two good developments I know, Hira and Olympia. Lancor is a bit above average. Villa projects are pretty low end too, nothing worth mentioning.

There are no high end buildings on GST as far as I know. I feel you need to attract people with higher incomes to see more developments. OMR is not there yet, other areas are absolutely not on the map.

Investors from all parts of India invest in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore. Chennai is bit different, it has always been an end user market. If Chennai people demand high end property, it will come, if they show little interest, it won't. The growth will always reflect people's mindset.

A high income group person in Delhi will prefer to buy high end property in Gurgaon/Noida over simple apartment complex in South Delhi, whereas in Chennai, simple apartment in Adyar will sell for more price than Hira or L&T in Siruseri. We should compare apples with apples, Chennai is unique.

Also I've been observing you mentioning Olympia Opaline as high end project in several posts in this site as well as in other real estate forum. Do you own a property in Opaline? I've read lot of negative reviews about it and no one else seem to mention it as a notable project in Chennai.

I'm relying on Hindu property plus epaper for land rates, I see CMDA approved plots advertised in Sholinganallur from 28-35 lacs (areas around TCS & Infosys), I agree TNHB plots are being quoted 55-60 lacs but TNHB is an altogether different league, they always command 50-100% higher rate than regular layouts due to legal clarity,wide roads, parks, school areas and other amenities.

Appaswamy project is bang on OMR, this is comparable with Olympia Grande which I believe is quoted for 5,700 psf.

There are not many properties in chromepet & pallavaram advertised in property plus, however those that are advertised are quoted for 80-1.25 cr per ground. Of course you can find plots in nemilicherry or thandalam or manimangalam for lower rate, these are also advertised as chromepet, pallavaram and tambaram but I'm referring to core Chromepet/Pallavaram/Tambaram areas.

When I was house hunting in 2006, there was a house in interior madambakkam which cost 16 lacs. It was constructed on 1 ground land. Houses very close to Tambaram velachery road constructed on 1 ground land costed 25-30lacs, in a new township project in Medavakkam, house constructed on 0.5 ground costed 25 lacs (Sai Ayush rameshaa). In thoraipakkam, a twin house constructed on 1 ground land behind ASV suntech park costed 45 lacs. Plots in Sholinganallur on canal side costed 25 lacs. In Hasthinapuram, cost of house in one ground land was approximately 35-40lacs. In Pammal or Nagalkeni, you could get similar house for 25-30 lacs. In Porur, houses on 1gr land costed 40-50lacs, in gerugambakkam, it was 20-25 lacs.

Tell me which areas had maximum appreciation? To me, it was clearly Madambakkam-selaiyur-perumbakkam strech, followed by Porur region, followed by Medavakkam followed by chromepet/pallavaram/tambaram and the areas the appreciated least in the said period was Sholinganallur.

I agree I may be way off the mark in saying chromepet is 2-3 times more than Sholinganallur, I shouldn't be comparing chemmencherry with Hasthinapuram or Nagappa nagar. However, chromepet is definitely more expensive now than Sholinganallur and IMO, it will only continue to become more expensive until the margin becomes too high to sustain.

Yes I agree..you are right at the end by saying that areas cannot be compared..It will be like comparing Apples with Oranges..

I can also get figures like in 2006, in Navalur Siruseri Thalambur area, 1 one ground plot costed around 7 lakhs. The same plot now costs arnd 42 lakhs..Which is 6 times more..

During the same time Anna nagar would have raised say 2 times..

Does that mean Navalur is better than Anna nagar ?

I think your comparison is in that context..

Similarly each area is got its own pros and cons..and as time passes by all land value and property value increases, but I think your Subject of that thread is not correct..
You are not in a position to give the call that OMR is not best investment for IT employees.

Navalur plot cost was definitely not 6 lacs, atleast on OMR, maybe in some interior areas like Ponmar. Even now, Ponmar land is no way 42 lacs per ground, you can bargain and get land in Navalur for 30-35lacs. So appreciation is not 6 times. Anna Nagar has definitely appreciated more than 3 times in the said period. There is still more room for appreciation as far as well planned areas like Anna Nagar is concerned, it is too early to write off these areas as peaked.

I'm not writing off OMR, I was a firm supporter of OMR until few years back, off late, especially after 2008 and after seeing other areas grow much more, I'm beginning to doubt if Chennaiites are ready to leave traditional areas and settle down in remote places like Sholinganallur-siruseri. The land rates now and rate of increase only reaffirms that Chennaiites prefer old areas and chennai will grow only organically along traditional growth corridors. Any sudden increase is purely speculative and correction can happen as fast as increase happens.

However, I do believe in the long term OMR has good potential, but will it be better than GST or Mount poonamallee or PH road? I'm not so sure anymore.

However during recession, porur or Anna Nagar of GST or mogappair or Nolambur was not as heavily hit as OMR, so I still believe it is too risky for IT folks to put all their eggs in OMR basket. I was only calling for viewpoints and never making judgement.

BTW, I was comparing well settled residential areas that started off with higher base price (except for interior Madambakkam), siruseri-navalur-thazhambur was a barren landscape, an investors' playground. So I was comparing apples with apples

I was not mentioning about layouts on the main road, No one will like to construct their Villa right on the banks of OMR.

I stand by the cost I mentioned for a plot which is 1 km from OMR. The cost of the land during Feb 2006 was definitely 6 lakhs. The same is now worth 42 lakhs.

So as per your argument, since the appreciation rate Navalur is higher than Anna nagar, so I guess all folks reading this thread will be lured to buy property in Navalur.

OMR has still lots of potentials left. Those who entered into the market from 2002-2006 are the lucky ones. After which the land became un-affordable for few. So for those the grape will always be Sour..